Structural silicides have important high temperature applications in oxidizing and aggressive environments. There is a continuing and growing need for these materials for applications such as furnace heating elements, molten metal lances, industrial gas burners, aerospace turbine engine components, diesel engine glow plugs and materials for glass processing.
Some of the materials which would theoretically meet some of these needs are difficult to make and/or have deficiencies in engineering properties. For example, conventional .beta.'-SiAlON is produced using silicon, aluminum nitride, and alumina in a nitrogen atmosphere. Due to impurities, .beta.'-SiAlON is normally difficult to produce in a useful structural form according to such sources as the Encyclopedia of Materials Science and Engineering.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide structural suicides with advantageous engineering properties.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method of making structural suicides with advantageous engineering properties.
It is a further object of this invention to provide molybdenum-based silicides.
It is yet another object of this invention to provide a method of making molybdenum-based silicides having improved purity.
It is an object of this invention to provide eutectoid composites of structural silicides having improved purity.
It is another object of this invention to provide a method of making eutectoid composites of structural silicides having improved purity.
Additional objects, advantages and novel features of the invention will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon examination of the following or may be learned by practice of the invention. The objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims. The claims appended hereto are intended to cover all changes and modifications within the spirit and scope thereof.